EVERETT — Hunting stories likely will be part of the dinner conversation on Feb. 6 at Bethany Christian Assembly.
Every year the church’s wild-meat dinner has attracted a larger crowd of hunters, their families, church members and those hungry to try deer or elk meatballs.
Organizer Phil Thompson expects 350 people to attend this year’s dinner in the church’s activity center.
“I don’t want to but I anticipate at one time or another I’ll have to turn people away,” he said.
Rev. Rollin Carlson, a former pastor at Bethany Christian Assembly, asked Thompson to organize the first dinner in 1992 as a fundraiser for the church’s men’s ministry that provides church literature for missionaries to give away worldwide. Thompson was busy in his role as director of men’s ministry at the church and concerned he didn’t have time to organize the dinner. Eventually, with the help of his wife, Darlene, he decided he would. What he thought would be a single event turned into Bethany Christian Church’s annual wild-meat dinner.
The event typically raises $3,500 to $5,000, Thompson said. An avid rifle hunter, he provides much of the meat at the dinner but also receives donations of meat from other hunters. In previous years, the meal has included not only deer and elk meat but also buffalo, bear, cougar, duck and smoked turkey.
There’s always enough food, he said, although sometimes diners end up “scraping the bottom of the barrel” for the very last bite.
“The problem is the food looks so good and it smells so good that people heap their plates up,” Thompson said. “We have come very close to running out of food but we never have.”
The food is one draw of the event, but so are the speakers and raffle items, Thompson added.
Bob Hodgdon, owner of Hodgdon Powder Co., will speak at this year’s dinner. World champion elk caller Chad Schearer and Ed Weatherby of Weatherby Rifles have been featured speakers at past dinners. A stagecoach shotgun, a 7 mm rifle, several Buck knives and a mounted bird are some of this year’s raffle items.
The event is also a chance for the hunters to display their own mounts. Nearly 65 animals have been on display at previous dinners.
“It’s a very nice opportunity for hunters to show off what they’ve gotten, otherwise it just sits in their home,” Darlene Thompson said. The wild-meat dinner brings hunters together but it isn’t just for those who enjoy hunting, said Wayne Hansen, a hunter who attends the dinner every year.
“It’s not just the old hard-nosed sportsmen that show up,” he said. “Good speakers come. We put (the meat) to good use and raise money for missionary literature. I never miss it.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
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